On Gun Violence and Making America Safe Again – An interview with CA. Senator Richard Pan

Your browser don't support audio player

HealthCetera Producer Kristi Westphaln shares a personal account of her experience on Monday, October 2, 2017. This news put her radio skills into action. Below is her account and her interview with California Senator Richard Pan. Dr. Richard Pan is a pediatrician, former UC Davis educator and State Senator.

I was interviewing at the University of California Los Angeles, it was during a lunch break, and I was sitting alone running through my social media feed. I made a gut-wrenching discovery Someone who I know to be sweet, amazing, and with an adventurous spirit. Someone with two young children and a loving family. Someone who loves country music and went to a concert, in Las Vegas, on the wrong day at the wrong time….

Fifty-nine people are dead and over five hundred people are wounded from the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. This tragedy is not the first of its kind. Mass shootings are on the rise in America and have infiltrated venues that were once considered safe: elementary schools, concert venues, nightclubs, and other community settings. As gun violence continues to kill over 30,000 Americans per year, conversations continue about how the government plans to respond to this epidemic.

While some talk, others act. Pediatrician and California Senator Richard Pan immediately made a statement.

HealthCetera Senior Fellow Kristi Westphaln interviews Senator Pan regarding the need for action in protecting Californians and all Americans from the gun violence epidemic. He highlights key tenets of managing gun violence from a public health perspective, speaks to how research represents an essential element to combating the gun violence epidemic and offers hope for the future.

The wave of nausea at the pit of my stomach hasn’t dissipated, and I don’t want it to. Violence isn’t normal, nor should it be normalized. The great debate of how to make America great needs a new frame- how can we work together to make America safe?

You can hear the interview here or on HealthCetera’s iTunes channel.

Tags

Share

<p>Kristi Westphaln, MSN, RN, PNP-PC, is a San Diego-based pediatric nurse practitioner with a passion for all things pediatric. She has been in the nursing profession for 15 years, with 11 years of PNP expertise in the areas of pediatric primary care, pediatric emergency health care, pediatric trauma and child abuse. Ms. Westphaln will be producing for the Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement a series of elementary school-based health education podcasts and will continue her work in radio with “HealthCetera.” She currently serves as the legislative/health policy chair for the San Diego chapters of the National Association of Pediatric Nurses (NAPNAP) and the California Association of Nurse Practitioners, and she was recently honored as a 2017 National NAPNAP Advocacy Scholar. She anticipates completing her PhD in nursing from the University of San Diego in May 2018 and aspires to pursue post-doctoral education in the pediatric health policy research arena. Her research interests include child health promotion, social capital, health care access and use, home visitation and health disparities/social justice.</p>